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Bruins Rally to Defeat Ducks

The UCLA women's basketball team used a career-best 31 points and 20 rebounds from sophomore forward Jasmine Dixon to help rally the Bruins from a 16-point second-half deficit and improve its record to 20-7, 13-3 on the season with a 91-75 over Oregon (16-12, 7-9) on Saturday afternoon in a Pac-10 conference game played in Eugene, OR. The win marked the Bruins' 10 win in the last 11 games.

Oregon enjoyed a 66-50 advantage with 14:12 remaining in the second half before the Bruins ran off 23 of the game's next 25 points to take a 73-68 lead with 7:34 to play. Dixon scored 12 points in the run. UCLA held the Ducks, the nation's second-leading scoring team, scoreless for over five minutes during the stretch.

Oregon connected on four of its five shots to jump out to an 11-6 lead in the early going. The Bruins battled back and took a 17-13 advantage on a basket by Dixon. The Ducks then scored the next six points in the contest and regained the lead at 19-17. Oregon maintained the lead the balance of the half and moved out to as much as an eight-point gap, 50-42, with 55 seconds to go in the half. Dixon then scored the last four points of the first 30 minutes and the Bruins went to the locker room trailing 50-46.

Dixon led UCLA with 15 first-half points and nine rebounds. UCLA shot 53% in the first half. The Bruins played most of the first half without the services of starting forward Markel Walker and guard Darxia Morris who each were limited to just four minutes of action due to foul trouble. The Ducks converted 49% of its field goal attempts, including a 8-19 mark from beyond the arc. Duck senior Micaela Cocks hit seven of eight field goals, four of five from three-point range. She finished with 18 first-half points and 24 for the game.

Junior Doreena Campbell added 19 points for UCLA and senior Erica Tukiainen chipped in with 13 points. The win marks the first road sweep of the three Pac-10 road series (Arizona, Washington, Oregon) since the 1991-92 team accomplished the feat. It is the third time overall the Bruins have swept the three series (also 1987-88) since UCLA began Pac-10 conference play in 1986-87 season.

This was the seventh conference road win on the year which matches the school mark set in the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons. The 13 conference wins are the most by a Bruin team since the 1998-99 squad captured 15 Pac-10 wins. This is the fifth time a Bruin team has recorded 20 wins in a season since Pac-10 play began in 1986-87 (2005-06 - 21, 1998-99 - 26, 1997-98 - 20, 1991-92 - 21).

The Bruins will return home next week, where they are 23-5 under Coach Nikki Caldwell, to host Arizona State (Thursday at 7 p.m.) and Arizona (Saturday at 12:30 p.m.). The Pac-10 Conference Tournament, which will be played at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, begins on March 11.